MasterChef champion to kick off fight against food waste campaign

A MasterChef champion is set to kick off a campaign to encourage residents to join the fight against food waste.

The West Sussex Waste Partnership, made up of the county’s main local authorities, is hoping to raise awareness and provide advice on how to be a smart shopper, ‘freeze with ease’ and ‘love your leftovers’.

To kick off the campaign, MasterChef’s 2018 champion Kenny Tutt will be joining the partnership between 11am and 3pm at Chichester Cathedral Green on Thursday August 30 and at Crawley’s Memorial Gardens on Thursday September 6.

Kenny, who lives in Worthing, will be delivering a culinary masterclass focusing on how to turn food which may have ended up in the bin into delicious dishes.

He said: “I am thrilled to be working with my local waste partnership on this exciting new campaign and I can’t wait to show fellow residents in West Sussex how to create some quick and easy food from what potentially could have ended up in the bin.

“There are so many great things you can do with leftovers from vibrant curries to beautiful casseroles or soups, but often people just need a few pointers to get them started.

“I’m hoping that the events will be hugely successful and that they kick start a whole new ethos across our county to stop people wasting valuable money on food that ultimately ends up in the bin.”

In West Sussex 70 per cent of food waste could have been eaten at some point prior to being thrown away. Of that, 41 per cent is just not used in time and a quarter is binned because too much is prepared or cooked.

Deborah Urquhart, West Sussex County Council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “We’re really excited to have Kenny headlining our events and talking people through the importance of loving their leftovers.

“It’s hard to believe how much of the food we buy is wasted and that there are a lot of steps we could take to prevent so much of it going in the bin; like prepping and freezing food we aren’t going to use and shopping smarter so we only buy the things we need.

“It has become more apparent that something needs to be done and we’re hoping that our ‘fight against food waste’ campaign will stop people from automatically throwing food waste in the bin and will encourage our residents to think before they throw.”

Food waste makes up nearly a third of the average rubbish bin in West Sussex.

This is the equivalent of nearly 20 bin lorries full of food being thrown away every day.